Turnout blues
Vacations, voting and vacillation in Poland's election...
Africa: Money no protection from HIV
A new study has challenged widely held assumptions about income level in relation to HIV, finding that neither wealth nor poverty are reliable predictors of HIV infection in Africa. Previously, the argument that poverty drove HIV epidemics was suppor...
New Cocoa Agreement Is a Sweet One, Producers Say
The new international cocoa agreement will provide a positive shake-up in the cocoa market and ensure better prices for stakeholders, including small farmers. It also strengthens the participation of civil society and the private sector in the cocoa...
Please Mrs Clinton, he hit me first
Armenia and Azerbaijan try to influence America with their ancient woes...
Smoking ban divides country (Die Tageszeitung, Berlin)
"The non-smokers want to take over" proclaims the headline of Die Tageszeitung following the July 4 referendum in Bavaria approving the ban on smoking in all of the region's restaurants, thereby establishing the strictest anti-smoking legis...
Chairing a Conference on the European Media Revolution
“The serious and thoughtful of the advertising, broadcasting and publishing worlds gathered in Brussels (June 30) for an evening with a select group of European Parliament members. The event, hosted by UK MEP Mary Honeyball, was themed “Europ...
Church pedophile mystery deepens (De Standaard, Brussels)
"Investigators are grilling Cardinal Danneels," reads the headline of De Standaard. Suspected of hushing-up paedophilia cases, the archbishop of Malines is being questioned today as a witness in paedophilia cases involving the Church. News...
Bronisław Komorowski Elected President – But Does the Winner Take All?
And so it was Komorowski after all. Following his victory in the second round of presidential elections on Sunday, Citizens' Platform (PO) now have total political power. Alongside the presidency they run the government, under the premiership of its...
ECB, the bank that looks after its own
A lovely little bit of news comes from the Financial Times today. The European Central Bank, champions of fiscal austerity across a continent, has been giving Romania an earful for hitting employees of the country’s central bank with a 25% pay...
Airwaves wobbly
Russia Today, a pro-Kremlin television channel, is promoting conspiracy theories...
Rock-a-bye baby
From ironing boards on Friday to babies’ cots today. The European Commission has been worried for some time that substandard beds and duvets used by young children could be endangering their health and perhaps even leading to cot death. Brussel...
Liberal group the "kingmaker" of the EU parliament
A new study of voting patterns in the European Parliament says the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) is the 'kingmaker' in the new Parliament being able to choose to form a winning majority either with the centre-right EPP or the c...
Who Are the EU’s New Citizens?
France overtook the U.K. as the country signing up most new citizens in 2008, according to new figures from Eurostat.
Fake beach, real fun
By Rose Kelleher What does an artificial beach in a semi derelict city docklands look like? Like a helluva party! The ninth year of the “Bruxelles les Bains” summer beach party got underway today and will run until August 22. About 600 m of sa...
Gäfgen v. Germany: threat of torture to save a life?
In Gäfgen v. Germany , the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights was confronted with a difficult issue: can police officers threaten to torture a suspect if they believe this may save the life of an innocent child? The Court clearly an...
Right seeks to overturn new abortion law (La Vanguardia, Barcelona)
“Autonomist rebellion against abortion law”, headlines La Vanguardia, as the autonomous provinces of Murcia, Madrid and Navarra - governed by the right wing opposition Popular Party (PP) - threaten to torpedo a sexual and reproductive hea...
Eneko Landaburu: « Le Maroc doit être une vitrine pour l’Europe et le monde arabe »
Basé à Rabat, l’espagnol Eneko Landaburu, chef de la délégation de l’Union européenne au Maroc, veille au quotidien au rapprochement entre le royaume chérifien et l’Europe. Econostrum.info : Le rapprochement entre l’Union européenne e...
Roma are Copenhagen's undesirables (Politiken, Copenhagen)
"Copenhagen wants to get rid of the Roma," announces Politiken. The Danish daily explains that the Social-Democrat mayor of the capital has asked for government assistance, including the use of force, in order to expel the 200 to 400 Roma w...
Competitiveness through Cuts?
A standard piece of textbook economics is that if a country cannot devalue, it must cut real wages to increase labour productivity and make its exports more attractive. Indeed, it is argued quite plausibly that the main reasons for Germany’s succes...
Competitiveness through Cuts?
A standard piece of textbook economics is that if a country cannot devalue, it must cut real wages to increase labour productivity and make its exports more attractive. Indeed, it is argued quite plausibly that the main reasons for Germany’s succes...
